Last mile issue

[tomWU]

Hello!

We are running an innovation project. The aim is to find solutions for last mile issue. It's an issue of transferring a person from a train/bus station to his/her house/workplace. This distance may be covered by walking, but it is time-consuming and difficult in case of a retired person or a person with a burden. It may be covered by car, but it's often hard to find a place for park near bus/train station, to say nothing of traffic jams and pollution. Probably, some vehicles like Segway or GM's EN-V show the direction to solve the issue.
I am interested in your opinion as professional engineers. Which decisions would you propose to solve the problem?

 

[MiketheEngineer]

JMW -

You have a good but sad point. A metro subway/bus system extension was voted down here in my town(city) and that was the "unofficial" main reason.

The cost was rather minimal - but these people just didn't want the bad crowd in their neighborhoods.

Another sorry fact - they were probably right as the subway now does go to a "tony" shopping center where crime has completely escalated!!

 

[controlnovice]

Folding bike works great in a city with subway/metra train/buses. Sister had one for a few years in Chicago and said it was fantastic....in Spring/Summer/Fall...not so much Winter. Just folded it up while on other transport and in her office.

While in China last year, I almost bought one, but realized I wouldn't use it where I currently work.

http://www.dahon.com/

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This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[jmw]

Actually, what I think started in Paris, is now operating in London - Boris' Bikes[/links]....
You need a bicycle? you rent one from a stand and abandon it at any other stand.
You don't need your own bicycle.

JMW
[URL unfurl="true"]www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[SomptingGuy]

I had a colleauge who swore by Boris' bikes. Seems like a great way to manage London (short-haul) transit. Better than spending 20 minutes walking through sweaty tunnels, waiting for a train, standing with your head in an armpit to move from A to B.

- Steve

 

[drawoh]

...

2. Drawoh and Cranky108, you told about intelligent systems for bus routing. It's interesting! Could you imagine such system? I mean, should it be some rough route for the bus or it should lay the route in real time, processing requests, how would passengers know, when they have to be at the bus stop, how to prioritize requests and divide them between buses?

I just noticed your reply to me.

When I noted that you could pick up and drop off at people's front doors, I was being facetious. Anything can be done if you are willing to spend the money. This this case, your technology is the telephone and the taxi. If you want to book a bus, you need an operator taking calls, a radio to communicate with the drivers, and passengers willing to sit on the bus while it wanders all over the residential neighbourhood visiting people's front doors.

You do not have many options. Here in Toronto, Canada, I have a 16ft wide property, and a transit stop about 200meters from my front door. If you are out in the country, this solution is a lot less feasible.

The Toronto Transit Commission has special buses for disabled people that do pick up and drop off at front doors. Disabled people are subsidized out of our tax dollars and/or out of our insurance dollars. I have not seen the numbers crunched for these buses. Perhaps they are a good investment!

JHG

 

[cranky108]

With text messages, and automatic systems to pickout addresses, then to route them to the proper bus, it may not be that difficult to do without an operator.

Just have a standard route for the bus, and a number of standard devations.

And why do we have so many bus services, and none of them work for me? There is the city bus, the handy cap bus, the school bus, the special event bus, casino bus and all but two is run with tax dollars.

 

[lacajun]

To me, a trolley system would be better for city usage to get people closer, if they don't want to walk the last mile. In the country, cars only for the US.

Women probably won't be too happy getting on a bicycle for various reasons. Men complain about seat comfort, which may be a prohibiting factor for them. Not all know how to ride a bicycle either.

Segways are fun but you have to be coordinated and possess balance to ride them. There is a learning curve, which some are not going to get. A bike shop used to sell them and we'd race around the shop during slow times. They are a blast but there was an adjustment to it. Some in the shop could not do it.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[GregLocock]

Dial a bus already exists in the UK, both in rural and urban environments. If you can't afford to sit on the bus while it traipses around from door to door you get a taxi.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[cranky108]

I don't need a taxi, I have a car.

We can't do text messages now on buses in the US. The DOT has nixed that.

Lets face it, the bus costs more (time and money), is not fun, and is not going where we want to go. If you can change these (one or more) then you could have a winner.

Try movies, like on planes, or music, or more distance between you and that smelly guy.

 

[drawoh]

To me, a trolley system would be better for city usage to get people closer, if they don't want to walk the last mile. In the country, cars only for the US.

Women probably won't be too happy getting on a bicycle for various reasons. Men complain about seat comfort, which may be a prohibiting factor for them. Not all know how to ride a bicycle either.

Toronto has streetcars, which run on tracks, and take electricity from overhead wires. Since the tracks are laid on regular roads, the streetcars are a part of traffic. Since they cannot pull to the side of the road, they stop in the middle, and everything behind them must stop too. A streetcar is a mobile roadblock. Streetcars are allegedly non-polluting, but I am sure you all know what this means. If something blocks the road, the streetcar cannot get around it. Here in Toronto, I find that any road with streetcars on it is best avoided in your car.

Streetcars are more comfortable than buses, but that is because they cannot zigzag. I understand that fully loaded buses grossly exceed maximum axle loads on city roads. This results in extra road maintenance.

Most bicycle seats are badly designed. Brooks bicycle saddles are made of heavy leather, and they are very comfortable. They cost more than some bicycles, but your butt is probably worth it.

JHG

 

[cranky108]

"I understand that fully loaded buses grossly exceed maximum axle loads on city roads. This results in extra road maintenance." Are you trying to say street car tracks are less maintenance??

If it's that important that you take public transportation, then walk the last mile (how hard can that be). If you can afford, and justify something else, then do so.

The best thing that has happened public transportation is reasonable parking lots (say park and ride).

 

[SnTMan]

Regarding public (mass) transportation, there are few things in the world that make me happier that getting off an airplane and getting a CAR.

Regards,

Mike

 

[cranky108]

From a different perspective, what reasons do we have for not taking mass transit?

Expencive, and the low standards of the other riders. Difficult to get to, and slow (relitive term).

 

[drawoh]

...

If it's that important that you take public transportation, then walk the last mile (how hard can that be). If you can afford, and justify something else, then do so.

The best thing that has happened public transportation is reasonable parking lots (say park and ride).

Driving in downtown Toronto is fairly difficult, and parking is expensive. The TTC has parking lots at its subway stations out in the suburbs, and these get used.

Toronto is a moderably old city by North American standards, and it has a lot of high density housing, with the attendant parking problems, and ease of access for transit. Lots of wealthy people downtown do not own cars. If I want to go downtown from home, I take either the nearby bus, or I walk about a kilometer down to a streetcar stop. I am reasonably fit, and the walk is manageable, and often enjoyable.

I do not know where the OP is located. The low density development characteristic of a lot of American cities is ideal for cars, and is not very manageable for public transit. That last kilometer or mile or two is a challenge.

JHG

 

[SomptingGuy]

Last mile issue today?

My little car (a Frod Munter runaround) lost its 5th and rev gears. So I took it to my local friendly shop, about a mile or two from my home.

Fixed within a couple of hours. A nice lunch in a local cafe and a pint in the boozer opposite the garage.

No last mile issues today!

- Steve

 

[cranky108]

Can I get that address, my mechanic isen't that fast.

But then again I don't drive a Frod.

 

[controlnovice]

In many other countries, taxis are used door to door.

In Asia and South America, walk out your door to the nearest main street, wait no more than 30 sec, flag down a taxi (if they don't stop first - which they usually do), and go.

One also sees many, many more walkers and fit people in those countries (as compared to N. America)....



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[SomptingGuy]

cranky108,

Next time you're in Lancing or Sompting, bring your car. The local shop is amazing: this is what's wrong, this is what it'll cost, this is how long it'll take. I've taken my cars there for 10+ years now.

These places are so good to know. Like good doctors and dentists. Specially if you're like me - brain the size of a planet, but 10 thumbs.

- Steve

 

[imagitec]

I live in Manchester, NH, a city of 100,000+ and home of DeKa Research of Dean Kamen and Segway fame, so they're a fairly common sight. But they aren't a last mile solution. They're an alternative for short commutes (I suspect 8 miles would be most peoples' limit; 4 miles more realistically; I sometimes commute 16 miles by bike).

With GPS on buses and the increasing omnipresence of smartphones and data collections, public transportation can be made much more practical, if municipalities take advantage of it. There are systems in operation that will let you watch your bus travel on a map in real time, so that you can go outside to meet it when it approaches rather than waiting at a bus stop.

Manchester has a bus system, but it is facing constant cuts. Partly, it's a negative feedback loop. There are technologies that could make it more appealing & increase ridership, but because ridership is low, the funding isn't available to take advantage. And people are loathe to use property taxes to fund something often viewed negatively (motivations ranging from, "I don't use so I don't want to pay for it", overly simplistic cost-benefit analyses, and even, "It's socialism!" (no joke; welcome to America)).

I suspect a system of smaller, point-to-point, on-demand vans (like a airport pickup and dropoff service) using these tracking, scheduling, and routing technologies could be more cost effective, efficient, and enjoyable to use.

Rob Campbell, PE
Imagitec: Imagination - Expertise - Execution
imagitec.net

 

[SomptingGuy]

Why oh why oh why can't you colonials think up new and distinctive names for your towns? We already have a Manchester and it's older than yours. It even has two football teams.

- Steve